THE USE OF LEUCAENA LEAF MEAL IN FEEDING NILE TILAPIA

A 14 week experiment was carried out to study the effects of replacing three different levels (33%, 66% and 100%) of berseem leaf meal (BLM) by leucaena leaf meal (LLM) treated in four different ways (drying fo r 48 h at 60 degrees C, autoclaved for 15 min, sprayed with 1% sodium hydroxide and incubated with rumen liquor for 24 h). Groups of Nile ti lapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.), fingerlings (5.07 g mean weight) we re fed one of 13 isonitrogenous (30% crude protein) and isocaloric (19 .67 W per g dry matter) diets, with two replicates (10 fish per aquari um) for each treatment. The results indicated that weight gain, specif ic growth rate, feed conversion ratio and protein utilization paramete rs were significantly (p < 0.05) increased by the higher percentage of dried or cooked LLM in tilapia diets. On the other hand, the lowest g rowth performance and feed utilization parameters were observed in the groups fed LLM diets treated with sodium hydroxide or incubated with rumen liquor. Carcass protein and fat increased significantly (p < 0.0 5) with increasing levels of LLM and simultaneously decreasing ash con tent.